It’s Time to Do Something About the Cost of Cancer Care

Cancer’s devastating impact on patients isn’t just physical and psychological. It’s also economic.

A single new cancer drug can cost more than $300,000 per year, and combination therapies with the latest immunologic- and genomic-based treatments edge close to $1 million annually. Thirty percent of cancer patients go into debt at some point during treatment and 3 percent file for bankruptcy.

For many, the reality is grim, writes Taussig Cancer Institute Chairman Brian J. Bolwell, MD, FACP, of Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, in a new Newsweek column. The U.S. healthcare system’s payment structure for cancer drugs forces patients to make life-and-death decisions based on their financial status. That is unacceptable. As the federal government’s Cancer Moonshot initiative gains momentum, the time is right for reform.

Read the complete column here.